


Yachi and the Cawing Crows

by directorenno



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 16:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5832646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/directorenno/pseuds/directorenno
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course, this kind of thing has to happen to Yachi of all people, no one else, no, Yachi is the one who has to deal with this ridiculous crow problem. It couldn’t have happened to the old lady living upstairs that likes to watch her ridiculous, melodramatic afternoon TV programs with the volume all the way up, of course not. Oh god, Yachi is absolutely mortified and she can just tell her cheeks are heating up again.</p><p>aka: The one where Yachi moves into an apartment where the landlord keeps some very troublesome crows.</p><p>* to be rewritten at one point in time</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yachi and the Cawing Crows

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift to one of my friends, as a way of celebrating the end of her exams. She always lets me ramble about all my fic ideas that I never end up actually writing - so here's one idea that is now finished and written. It is a little hasty and it's not my best, but I needed to have it finished today, so I hope you all enjoy regardless. :)
> 
> Reminder that I have never kept birds, much less crows and that whatever is written here is mostly just what I assume happens. I did watch several crow documentaries though, which were very interesting.
> 
> This is unbetaed.

It is Yachi’s first day off from work since she moved into her new apartment, the first day of an exciting holiday. Her alarm clock is set to ring at 8AM sharp, at which point she will wake up and make herself breakfast in her little one room. Then she will brush her teeth, get into the shower, and get dressed, before finally getting around to the boxes that have been clogging up her tiny hallway for the past two months now. Once everything is neatly organized, divided amongst her cupboards, drawers and closet, she will settle down at her table and plan the free week ahead of her.

 

It is a little past 5:30 however when loud screams outside of her windows startle Yachi from her sleep. Yachi fights with her bed covers, struggling to sit up straight and her short, messy bed head sticks up in every possible direction. She scans the room, groggy and unsure of why she is awake at this godforsaken hour when the screams sound again, followed by rustling and clamoring, and Yachi is up and tip-toeing to the window in a second, holding onto whatever she managed to grab off her nightstand. If some heinous murder is being committed on her balcony, she should at least be prepared before revealing the crime scene.

 

Her fingers curl around the curtains, drawing it back and Yachi imagines someone bleeding to death on the other side, ready to entrust her with his last wishes of killing the crime boss that managed to get him. Once the curtain is brushed to the side however, revealing the source of the ruckus, Yachi deflates and sighs with relief. She brings her fingertips to her temples and rubs circles into her skin. The heinous murderer turns out to be an innocent crow, cawing as it waddles across her tiny balcony – until it pecks at her windows, ticking insistently against the glass and making Yachi jump, her improvised lipstick weapon slipping out of her hand. She holds a hand over her heart – it is too early in the morning for unplanned crow attacks. But the fact doesn’t seem to stop the crow from pecking the glass windows.

 

“Shoo,” she taps her knuckles against the window softly, hoping the bird will fly off, but the crow only caws loudly in protest, jumping and fluttering its wings in intimidation. “Shoo, shoo,” she knocks again, wondering how she ended up with a landlord that _keeps_ crows, when the city is in the midst of a very serious crow problem. The cawing stops when one of the crow’s companions lands next to it and Yachi shakes her head, “Oh no.”

 

Maybe if she waits they will go away. But time ticks by and in a matter of time Yachi has four crows pecking and cawing at her window and to say that Yachi is more than a little freaked out would be an understatement. Crows are bad news; bad, bad news and Yachi might just so happen to be on the superstitious side. This is a warning from above. Is she going to slip in the shower and hit her head? Will she burn her toast and cause her apartment to burn down? Is she going to get run over on her way to get the groceries today? Is this why the crows are pestering her? Is she going to _die_?

 

“I’m being ridiculous,” Yachi shakes her head, mumbling. She is not going to die because some birds like her balcony and decided to challenge her territory. No one’s going to die at all. This is just a minor inconvenience. Could have happened to anyone. Everything is fine. Yachi takes a deep breath, grounds herself and reaches for the broom in the corner of the room, before cautiously opening the sliding door, just enough to let the broom’s handle slide through and to poke in the birds’ direction. It takes a while, but eventually Yachi’s balcony is successfully rid of all things classified as ‘crow’.

 

Yachi assumes it is just a one-time thing, some crow’s odd behavior. But as it turns out, Yachi is wrong. The crows visit her again, and again, and again; until Yachi no longer startles awake but instead groans into the palm of her hand when the cawing disrupts her sleep. It is the fourth day in a row and she turns her head, checking her alarm. 7AM. At least they had the decency to grant her a night’s worth of rest this time. The crow cocks it’s head to look at her when Yachi opens the curtains, and she settles on giving it the stink eye. It’s always the same crow that caws her awake, smaller than the other crows, but also a lot jumpier, endlessly hopping back and forth across her balcony.

 

Yachi crosses the room, reaching for yesterday’s leftovers and opens her slide door. “You know,” she says, putting the bowl of leftovers down and watching as the bird perks up at the sound of her voice, “I would like you a lot more if you’d bother me later on during the day and let me sleep in for a change. I mean, it’s not like I can just up and take a holiday every month, you see.” The crow stares at her, cocking its head again and Yachi fidgets. It’s not that she’s still scared of bad luck befalling her somehow, nothing happened that first fateful day after all, but it still unsettles her enough to make her squirm.

 

Yachi leans against the doorway, crossing her arms and watching as a second crows joins the first, picking at her leftovers until most of it is gone. The second crow is a lot bigger than the first, has a meaner look to itself too. But despite Yachi’s initial reluctance towards the crows and despite their endless pestering in the morning, the crows’ behavior has been anything but hostile. The tiny, jumpy one finishes eating and takes off soon after, leaving Yachi to frown on her balcony. She takes a step closer towards the balcony railing, and leans her elbows on them, watching the crows flit around the garden.

 

It is amazing how they have not yet flown off, as they rarely spend their time in the aviary. Yachi makes a note to talk to the landlord about that – maybe if they were, they would not wake her up in the early hours of the morning. The tiny bird returns, landing on the balcony railing a little further away from Yachi. She turns her head, rays of sunlight catching her eyes and hears something drop to the ground. Yachi bends down, grasping for the item and turns her head, in time to see the crow fly off with its partner.

 

The item is cold against Yachi’s skin as she squeezes it and Yachi opens her hand to investigate what the crow dropped. In her palm rests a tiny clasp earring, golden circles dotted with tiny diamond specks.

 

 

 

 

Yachi had intended to go knock on the landlord’s door and hand the earring over. It looked expensive and maybe he could inquire with the other tenants, return it to its rightful owner. It just so happened to be that one of her colleagues decided to ring her up that same moment about an emergency and a client that had decided they wanted to change their ordered designs two days before a deadline – so work just kind of happened instead. The earrings was stored in a little cup on Yachi’s table.

 

Once back on the work floor, it seemed there was little time for her to return to her holiday. Yachi stuck around, sprung up upon by various issues and problems. Soon the earring in the cup was joined by a little pocket mirror, some shards of glass and little stones. Not to mention the stack of iron coat hangers that had piled up next to the cup. It had been a while since Yachi had actually seen the crows, but the leftovers were always finished when she returned home and the crows left her little trinkets almost daily. Yachi finds herself wondering if anything will be waiting for her today.

 

“You should go home early,” Misaki squeezes Yachi’s shoulder, “You’ve been helping out a lot – and that when you had finally decided to take a week off too, sorry to be a bother.”

 

“It’s nothing really,” Yachi says, “I quite enjoy the extra work.”

 

“You’ve really been too kind,” Kuribayashi says from the side, toggling away on her keyboard undisturbed.

 

“I insist,” Misaki squeezes Yachi’s shoulder a little tighter, and that’s how Yachi finds herself home early, standing in the hallway of her apartment building, face to face with the cutest girl of the second floor. _Shimizu_. Yachi can feel the heat glowing off her cheeks and hopes she is not blushing too hard. Shimizu is bending down, tying her shoelaces and wearing her training outfit, her hair tied up in a simple ponytail at the back. Yachi smiles nervously in response to Shimizu’s softer smile of recognition and wonders how someone can be dressed so ordinary and still look so good, then finds herself patting her hair, messy after a long day of work. It is not fair at all.

 

“Yachi, right?” Shimizu asks and Yachi nods, maybe a little too quickly, feeling the weight of her bag of take-out cut into her fingers.

 

“Yes.”

 

“You’re room 513, right?”

 

“Ah, yes,” Yachi says and frowns, “is something the matter?” Maybe the crows’ bad luck set in late and her apartment really burnt down after all, her grandfather did used to say never to trust cro –

 

“No, I just, well I was wondering if you’re the one who’s been leaving food out for the crows lately?” Shimizu asks. Her apartment has not burnt down then. Good. Yachi groans internally and admires Shimizu’s ability to smile despite Yachi glowing bright with obvious embarrassment. Shimizu must think she is a total weirdo.

 

“Oh,” Yachi says, stammering nervously, “Um, yes. I did. W-was I not supposed to? I’m so sorry!”

 

Shimizu giggles at that and Yachi can only look on as Shimizu looks at the floor and brings a finger to her lips, shyly hiding her smile. Really. Not fair.

 

“It’s fine, actually. I was just wondering and – oh, don’t feel bad about it! I know they can be very persistent,” Shimizu says at last, cheeks dusted with the slightest hints of pink. There is only so much Yachi can do not to hide her face in her hands.

 

“They haven’t been bothering you too much, have they?” Shimizu asks. Yachi thinks back to her resolution to talk to old Ukai about the aviary and the crows waking her up in the mornings and how long it has been. Yachi has been leaving for work before the crows even get a chance to wake her lately, so she assumes it probably won’t be too much of a problem when she returns to work. Yachi shakes her head no. Shimizu smiles and when the silence starts to linger she clears her throat.

 

“Well, I’ll be off then,” Shimizu says, “It’s pretty late for my evening jog as is already.”

 

“Ah, yeah,” Yachi says on autopilot, watching Shimizu go as she gives Yachi a last wave. Her bag cuts a little deeper into her fingers than before.

 

It is a few hours later that evening, when Yachi is warming herself a well-deserved bath, that she receives a call from Misaki, telling her to take the rest of the week off after all. Yachi wants to protest, but Misaki does not allow her to get a word in.

 

“Everything is under control,” Misaki says reassuringly and Yachi wonders if it really is. It is not like she won’t worry tomorrow, she is always worrying about work, uncomfortable with not being in control of the projects and the pace, but decides not to press the issue. Her juniors obviously think they can handle it, and if they don’t then they must want to show her they are trustworthy enough to hand the reigns over to them for a while. And the last thing Yachi wants to do is trample all over their feelings by doubting their efforts and hard work. Besides, if something really goes wrong, she is certain she will know.

 

“If you’re sure,” Yachi says, smiling at her phone.

 

“A whopping 300% sure, boss,” Misaki says and Yachi can imagine her coworker saluting on the other end of the line.

 

“300%?” she asks, grinning.

 

“Well, maybe only 200%... but don’t you worry about it.”

 

“I leave it to you then,” Yachi says and finishes the conversation quickly as they say their goodbyes. Yachi sighs, dropping her cell phone to her lap and bathes her other hand through the warm water of her bath, letting it soak, hoping her worries will magically soak oat of her. She tries her best not to think too much, to _over_ think. About work. About her break. About the humiliation of freezing up in front of Shimizu. Yachi turns the faucet until the water stops running and dials her mother’s number. Maybe she will see the crows again tomorrow morning.

 

To her own surprise she wakes up groggy and tired around 11:45AM and she groans as she puts her alarm clock back down. She slept through her alarm, she must have been more exhausted than she thought she was. Once she is dressed and refreshed, Yachi makes herself breakfast and opens the curtains. The tiny crow sits on the railing of her balcony and flutters its wings slightly at the curtain being drawn back. No cawing her awake in the early morning?

 

“Seems like we can be friends after all,” Yachi hums softly as she steps outside and leans against the railing, waiting for her rice cooker to finish. The crow jumps down onto her balcony and pecks at the spot where Yachi tends to leave her leftovers.

 

“Sorry buddy, no leftovers today.”

 

The crow pecks against the ground one more time and seems to understand when Yachi does not bring any food, shrugging her shoulders apologetically instead. It spreads its wings and flies off, leaving Yachi to watch from her balcony. It is then that she spots a figure – _Shimizu,_ Yachi realizes – in the garden, bent over a fallen trashcan and Yachi notices the trash spread across the garden. One of the cans probably keeled over last night due to heavy wind.

 

Yachi makes her way to her hallway and tugs on her shoes before she is out the door and down the stairs.

 

“Need some help?” Yachi calls out as she enters the garden and Shimizu’s head whips up, looking at Yachi and smiles. Yachi makes her way over and helps Shimizu lift the trashcan back up. The entire building shares the trashcans, so they are built a little bigger and heavier than Yachi is used to and it is quite the feat to get the can back up. Next up is gathering the trash littered all over the garden.

 

“The wind?” Yachi asks, nodding at the trashcan and is suddenly aware of how hot it is outside and how surprisingly placid the weather is. Shimizu huffs good-naturedly, brushing back a strand of hair. Yachi notices she has let her hair down and blushes, uncertain if it is because of her mistaken observation or how good Shimizu looks.

 

“No,” Shimizu says, “the _crows_.”

 

“The crows?” Yachi asks and Shimizu nods.

 

“I told you they could be quite persistent.”

 

Oh. _Quite_ , if they have the conviction to somehow throw down the trashcan and peck at the garbage until the garden turned into the mess it is.

 

“They haven’t done this in a while either, I hoped they’d have grown out of it,” Shimizu says, resting her hands on her hips and staring up at the big tree in the middle of the garden. One of the crows caws almost bemusedly as it sits safe on one of the branches. Cheeky.

 

“Oh,” Yachi says, “I didn’t have any leftovers to put outside last night.”

 

When Yachi is met with silence, she turns her head to look at Shimizu only to find Shimizu staring at her instead. Yachi frowns a little, only to be met with Shimizu’s palm on her shoulder as Shimizu breaks out in laughter. Her laughter is soft and giggly and it sounds so, so sweet and pretty and as Shimizu’s fingers burn into Yachi’s shoulder, Yachi wonders what the squeamish feeling in her belly means.

 

“Aha, no, it’s not your fault, Yachi,” Shimizu says, biting down her grin but eyes sparkling, “I was a little late to feed them today – I figure they must’ve grown tired of waiting. It happens.”

 

“Oh,” Yachi flushes, “okay.” She wants to say something more, but the words are stuck in her head and her palms feel clammy.

 

“I just wish I had more time to clean up the garden, but it will have to wait until evening though, I can’t be late for work,” Shimizu says at last, turning to smile at Yachi. “Thanks for helping with the can though.” Yachi nods and then reaches out her hand tentatively, before touching Shimizu’s arm to draw her attention. And god, she shouldn’t be this nervous to touch a girl’s arm.

 

“You know,” Yachi says, “I could take care of the garden for you.” Shimizu stares a little.

 

“I couldn’t make you –” Shimizu starts. But Yachi has made up her mind, thinking of the paperwork waiting for her upstairs and how she might just as well spend her time on cleaning the garden instead of working, it _is_ her break and she can decide to spend it however she likes.

 

“I insist,” Yachi smiles. Shimizu’s expression softens and she nods.

 

“Thank you,” she says before they say their goodbyes and Shimizu runs back inside, leaving Yachi to the garden. Yachi takes a deep breath and sets out to cleaning up the garden under the watchful eyes of the crows. Once she deems the garden clean and rid of all garbage, Yachi returns to her apartment and cleans herself up. She looks quite the mess, but the hard work left her feeling warm and satisfied. Once she looks presentable enough to herself, her stomach rumbles and reminds her she has rice in the cooker.

 

 

 

 

Around 6PM in the evening a caw disrupts Yachi from her reading. Her book weighs heavy in her hand and Yachi puts it away slowly to look at her balcony. And yes, there it is, the little pipsqueak that loves to bother her and with who she is slowly coming to a truce. She notices something hanging from its beak – another hanger, she realizes, except this time it has clothes attached. Yachi gets up from her bed when the crow drops the hanger to the floor. Best to add it to the collection of hangers that is slowly piling itself up on her table.

 

When Yachi opens her balcony door to pick up the hanger, she realizes that the clothing piece hanging from it is – oh god, why – a nightshirt. A silky pajama top with lace frillings and Yachi feels her cheeks heat up. Great, now how is she going to explain her collection of hangers and buttons and jewelry and silky, lacy pajama tops to old Ukai when she hands everything over. _“Sorry sir, your crows left these on my balcony?”_ What if he accidentally thinks she is hitting on him, or trying to play a prank on him and he kicks her out of her room and – Yachi is still holding the top in her hands, examining the fabric for any holes from the crows’ beak and thinking up worst case scenarios, when she hears knocking on her door.

 

“In a minute!” she calls out, as she makes her way towards her door and opens it, wondering who could be needing her now. Did something happen at work? Can’t be, they would have called her. A surprise visit from her family? But who would visit except for her mother? Besides, she was sure her mother was away on a business trip on the other side of Japan. A friend maybe? She opens the door to reveal the last person she would have thought of.

 

“Hello,” Shimizu says, smiling sweetly, a bright carton box in her hand. And then her eyes glance over Yachi and her smile melts away into a confused furrow of her brows and she asks, “Is that my nightie?”

 

Yachi looks down at her hands, clinging onto the silky fabric and she looks back up at Shimizu in panic. _Of course_ , this kind of thing has to happen to Yachi of all people, no one else, no, _Yachi_ is the one who has to deal with this ridiculous crow problem. It couldn’t have happened to the old lady living upstairs that likes to watch her ridiculous, melodramatic afternoon TV programs with the volume all the way up, of course not. Oh god, Yachi is absolutely _mortified_ and she can just tell her cheeks are heating up again.

 

“I – I can explain!”

 

And she does. In detail, even. At her table, with Shimizu seated next to her, carefully examining the evidence of buttons, glass shards and coat hangers Yachi has presented her.

 

“So the crows just drop these things off sometimes?” Shimizu asks. Yachi nods.

 

“So you’re not the neighborhood’s resident underwear thief?” Shimizu’s lips quirk up into a teasing smile. Yachi vigorously shakes her head no.

 

“Of course not!”

 

“Well that’s a disappointment,” Shimizu says and Yachi frowns in confusion. Was she missing something? “Because if you were I’d at least know where my lost pair of panties had gone off to.”

 

“You’re missing more things?” Yachi asks and Shimizu nods, frowning at a square, beige button.

 

“I think this is the button of my winter coat that went missing last winter,” Shimizu says but stops when Yachi’s question registers, “Huh – Ah, yes, actually, whenever I leave my laundry out to dry, some of it just goes missing sometimes.”

 

“I wonder who has it,” Yachi says and Shimizu hums in agreement.

 

“At least now I know who the culprit is though.”

 

Yachi lets the silence linger a little, until Shimizu reaches for carton box she brought with her and opens it to reveal a set of chocolate cakes. Yachi looks up at her questioningly.

 

“The reason I came here today,” Shimizu says, “is to thank you for helping me with the garden. It was nice of you and you shouldn’t have.”

 

“Oh,” Yachi shifts in her seat and smiles. “I wanted to though, it was no problem at all.”

 

As Shimizu stands up to leave, gathering her hangers and buttons and nightshirt from Yachi’s table, Yachi clears her throat, unsure how to breach what she wants to say.

 

“I could help out sometimes, you know,” Yachi says and Shimizu turns to look at her. “With the crows I mean – obviously if I have work then I won’t be able to, but on my days off or when I have some free time, I can check up on them in your stead, whilst you’re gone for work or whatever,” Yachi says in a short, mumbled string of words. Shimizu smiles a little at that.

 

“That would be lovely,” she says.

 

Once Shimizu is gone, Yachi settles back into her bed with her book. She eats one of the cakes Shimizu brought over as last snack and calls it an early day. They decided to meet up early, after all.

 

From the next morning on, Shimizu teaches her the ropes and Yachi is all too eager to learn how to take care of the crows. She learns that old Ukai keeps twelve crows in total and that they rarely spend their time in the aviary, as she suspected. She learns that the little pipsqueak that kept cawing her awake is called Hinata, one of the younger crows, and that he grows even more enthusiastic of her when she becomes a regular presence in the crows’ lives.

 

Soon enough Yachi starts feeling like she is beginning to master how to clean the aviary, how and what to feed the birds and how to keep them healthy and check them. She still has some problems keeping the crows apart however, so Shimizu sticks around to help her when necessary. It is on one of these mornings that Yachi is surprised by the largest crow of the lot. It is large, to say the least, larger than the other crows in the garden and even larger than some of the wild crows Yachi has seen around the city even. Its feathers glitter in the sun and its caw is loud and domineering. Yachi still squeaks whenever the crow flies a little too close to her and likes to leave it in the hands of Shimizu.

 

So when the crow flies right over her head and lands next to her in the grass, Yachi calls for Shimizu in distress. But Shimizu only muffles her laughter behind her hand.

 

“You don’t have to be afraid of Asahi,” she says, small smile curving up. “He’s just seeing who’s been playing in his garden so much lately, probably trying to make friends with you or something.” Yachi stares at her incredulously, is Shimizu trying to say this big, scary crow is – “He’s harmless,” Shimizu says and Yachi squints at the crow with suspicion.

 

“It’s these two you need to be worried about,” she nudges towards the two crows huddled next to each other, looking on at the scene from the lower branch of the oak tree. Yachi recognizes the smaller one with the few white feathers to be Yuu, if she remembered the name correctly, meaning that the crow sitting next to it must be Ryuunosuke. She remembers Shimizu telling her that they like to create trouble together.

 

Yachi nods in understanding, but can’t help the slightly scared feeling whenever Asahi hops around too close to her and settles on focusing her tasks at hand instead, favoring to ignore the big crow watching her from a few steps away.

 

Yachi discovers that as she gets to know the schedule and tasks better with time, so does she start understanding the crows better. She realizes that Asahi is, indeed, harmless and that although Yuu and Ryuunosuke like to make a lot of noise and wake the neighborhood up at the earliest hours, it is the Daichi crow (That was its name, no? She’d have to ask Shimizu again to be sure.) who leads the flock and it is Daichi that is the scariest. When she tells Shimizu, Shimizu is surprised to hear.

 

She starts learning more about Shimizu as well. Shimizu is still a little reserved, a little quiet at times and although Yachi does not mind spending her time with Shimizu in a comfortable silence, she does like it now when Shimizu starts talking to her a little more, when the topics of conversation start growing. Shimizu is slowly opening up a little and Yachi is pleased that they are getting to know each other better, that she is no longer afraid to talk to this beautiful girl that lives a few floors beneath Yachi and that she now spends so much time with.

 

Shimizu tells her that she works in a confectionary store a walk away and that the owners are grooming her to take over the store when they retire. Yachi learns that when she visits Shimizu at the store, even Shimizu gets embarrassed and flushes a little. Shimizu invites her inside a lot after they tend to the crows, for a drink or a bite and Yachi almost always takes her up on the invitations.

 

They see a whole less of each other once Yachi has to return to work. And Yachi wonders why she’s looking forward to their meetings in the weekend, to tend to the garden and the crows. She wonders why her stomach jumps with excitement at the mere thought. Sometimes she gets jittery around Shimizu. Whenever Shimizu leans a little too closely or their arms brush, Yachi’s throat goes a little dry. Shimizu scolded her last week too, told Yachi she overworked herself too much, and although Yachi had felt horrible for making Shimizu frown at her, she couldn’t help the smile from appearing on her lips because it meant Shimizu cared.

 

One afternoon, the crow with the light brown streaks in its feathers, Tadashi or something, crawls onto Yachi’s shoulder, leaving Yachi too afraid to move. So Shimizu brushes the blond strand out of Yachi’s face instead and something in Yachi’s chest just blows up, explodes right there and fills her with little sparks that still fizzle hours after, when Yachi is lying in bed, thinking back on the day and sleep slipping through her fingers.

 

Yachi realizes, half asleep, that this must be a crush. She has a terrible, terrible crush on Shimizu and wow, does it feel nice. A little scary, like grasping for a falling glass of juice and not knowing if you will catch it on time before it hits the floor, but nice, warmed by the hope that she’s not the only who is reaching for it. Yachi also realizes that she is a little too afraid, too fearful of the outcome, to just come out with it and tell Shimizu.

 

Yachi thinks she is doing a terrific job at keeping her crush from influencing her daily life too. Until her coworkers tell her she is not.

 

“You’ve been awfully absentminded lately,” Misaki says, frowning over one of Yachi’s proposals, littered with mistakes.

 

“I’ll fix it,” Yachi promises, nodding with resolution. She _has_ to tell Shimizu.

 

 

 

 

Telling Shimizu turns out to be more difficult than Yachi thought it would be. When they have lunch together on Saturday after Yachi brought Shimizu the latest hangers the crows had been leaving behind on her balcony, Yachi braces herself. Clears her throat and asks for Shimizu’s attention.

 

Yachi chokes.

 

“It’s nothing,” Yachi brushes it off and Shimizu gives her a confused glance.

 

She tries again a few days later, when Yachi meets Shimizu in the hallways as she comes back from work. But again, the words fall dead on her tongue and Yachi can’t get them to cross her lips. She decides to switch tactics. If she can’t admit she likes Shimizu, she will set herself a lower objective. Surely, she can ask Shimizu out on a simple date.

 

The next time Yachi has a day off, she joins Shimizu to feed the crows. The sun is out and some of the crows are playing with one of the ping pong balls old Ukai had left behind the last time he came to check up on the crows. Shouyou and Tobio are being fussy, fighting over the ball, and Kei runs off with it when they are distracted. The other crows are in the tree, watching as the younger crows play and the two girls get to work.

 

Yachi thinks it may not be the perfect timing, the mood is peaceful and quiet but not exactly romantic. All the same, she thinks peaceful is good enough. It is how they like to spend their time together, it is good and comfortable and _why not_ now? Shimizu’s cheeks are a little flushed, and Yachi thinks it must be due to the sun.

 

Yachi has dressed in a nice dress, clipped her hair to the side with her favorite hair clip, and is just about to clear her throat and call out Shimizu’s name, when Shimizu beats her to it.

 

“Yachi,” Shimizu says, determinedly looking down at her hands. Yachi turns her head to look at Shimizu.

 

“Yes, Shimizu?” she asks, but Shimizu takes her time to continue. Yachi can see her take a little breath, and Yachi’s stomach does that squeasy, uneasy thing again.

 

“Would you, maybe, like to go out on date?”

 

Yachi lets out a surprised yelp, and Shimizu’s cheeks burn even redder.

 

“As friends?” Yachi asks, stunned into silence now that she has stopped yelling. Shimizu shakes her head cautiously, nervously, no and continues to stare at her hands, teeth biting down on her lips. It really is not fair, Yachi thinks, as she watches Shimizu glance at her sneakily, looking more beautiful than ever to Yachi.

 

“M – maybe as a little more? Than friends?” Shimizu stammers, and Yachi is sure she has never heard Shimizu this uncertain of herself. Yachi won’t stand for it.

 

“Shimizu,” Yachi says, and Shimizu turns to look at her directly now. Yachi smiles brightly.

 

“I would love to.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :) Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated! 
> 
> For anyone who is interested, you can find me as kechishima on tumblr!


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